Després Alain

A director of artistic and cultural organizations for over 25 years, Alain Despres was instrumental, alongside Iannis Xenakis, in the creation of Les Ateliers UPIC. He has organized and hosted numerous concerts, master classes, and workshops at universities, schools, and contemporary art festivals, in North America, Japan and most of Europe. He established Alpha Centauri, a cultural organization that promotes collaboration between researchers, artists and such institutions as the French National Center for Scientific Research, CEA (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique), technical schools, universities, and ministries. He has collected stones over the years, and in the past two decades has engaged in the more personal pursuit of direct carving.